Takako SaitoDREAMS TO DO

Every moment and every place is unique, as long as one is alive! Takako Saito (1929–2025) has lived and worked mainly in Düsseldorf since 1978 and became internationally known for objects, artists’ books, performances, and actions in the Fluxus context. Her interest has always been in the world of things and of everyday life, to which she added an artistic gesture of her own through interventions or small actions. Natural materials such as stones, shells, onion skins or chestnuts are among her preferred materials, alongside papers, plastics, foams or pieces of wood. Unmistakable are the carefully crafted object boxes made since the 1960s as well as the numerous “free” chess sets, which were initially sold in George Maciunas’ Fluxshop. The playful approach is characteristic of many of Takako Saito’s works; the artist had been always in search of new variants of play beyond fixed rules. Viewers are involved as fellow players and co-creators, for the artist had a particular preference for the strategy of participation, above all in her “Me and You Shops” – market-stall-like shops in which the artist interacted with the public as a saleswoman. The book “Takako Saito: DREAMS TO DO” are conceived retrospectively and present works from all the important phases of her oeuvre.

Exhibition:
Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, 12/11/2017 – 18/2/2018
CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, 08/03 – 22/09/2018